The present invention relates to a data recording/playback apparatus for recording and/or playing back data to and/or from a recording medium, data editing apparatus for editing material data, and a data recording method for recording material data.
Recently, the so-called CATV (cable television or community antenna television) has prevailed widely. With this prevalence of the CATV systems, information service has been made via multi-channel systems, and it has been demanded that a plurality of video data and/or audio data (will be referred to as xe2x80x9cvideo/audio dataxe2x80x9d hereafter) can simultaneously be recorded into, and/or played back from, a single video and audio data recording/playback apparatus which records and/or play back video/audio data and the video/audio data can be played back while being recorded, which would not be experienced with the conventional VTR (video tape recorder). To meet such demands, there has been proposed an apparatus called xe2x80x9cvideo server (or A/V (=audio and/or video) server)xe2x80x9d which uses a random-accessible recording medium such as a hard disc (will be referred to as xe2x80x9cHDxe2x80x9d hereafter) and can record/play back video/audio data to/from the HD. The video server is prevailing.
Generally, to meet the quality requirements for video/audio data which is to be recorded and/or played back to and/or from the recording medium, the video server used in the broadcasting stations should be able to transfer required data at a high rate and the recording medium should have a large capacity for recording data for a long time.
To this end, it has been tried to use a data recording/playback apparatus incorporating a plurality of HDs which can store video/audio data and process them in parallel for attaining a high data transfer rate and large recording capacity, and also it has been tried to record parity data in the HDs for maintaining the operational reliability even when any of the HDs becomes faulty.
With the above trials, it has become possible to realize a multi-channel video server which is usable in a variety of applications to form a so-called VOD (video on demand) or NVOD (near video on demand) system by discretely recoding material data including a plurality of video/audio data, transmitting the material data over many channels, and playing back the same material data at one time over one of many channels and at other time over the other channel, for example, even if the number of channels varies depending upon the content of a program which a broadcasting station is going to broadcast as well as upon the mode of the broadcasting.
The data recording/playback apparatus used in such a video server adopts the RAID (redundant arrays of inexpensive discs) system formed from a hard disc drive (will be referred to as xe2x80x9cHDDxe2x80x9d hereafter) incorporating a plurality of hard discs (HD), as proposed in the David A. Patterson et al""s article xe2x80x9cA Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)xe2x80x9d, ACM SIGMOND Conference, Chicago, Ill., Jun. 1-3, 1988.
The RAID system disclosed in this article consists of five RAIDs from RAID-1 to RAID-5. The RAID-1 is a so-called xe2x80x9cmirrored discxe2x80x9d system to write the same content to two HDDs. The RAID-2 and -3 are to divide input data into data blocks of a predetermined length and write them to a plurality of HDDs. The RAID-2 uses the Hamming code as an error correction code, while the RAID-3 is to produce parity data being exclusive-OR of data blocks of each HDD, corresponding to each other and write it to another HDD. Further the RAID-4 and -5 are to divide input data into large blocks and write one data block to one HDD while writing parity data resulted from exclusive-OR of data blocks corresponding to HDDs, respectively, as a parity block to the HDD. The RAID-4 is to write parity block to the same HDD while the RAID-5 is to discretely write the parity data to a plurality of HDDs.
As a typical one of the video servers using the above data recording/playback apparatus, there has been proposed a video server having a plurality of input/output units provided therein and adapted to record and/or play back video/audio data to and/or from HDs for example via the input/output units. In such a video server, the plurality of input/output units is adapted to work during times slots assigned to them for permission of the right of using a bus, process external input data, transmit the data to a non-linearly accessible recording medium such as HD, and process data read from the recording medium for delivery to outside. Thus, if observed for a long time, the plurality of input/output units in the video server seems to work as if they processed data simultaneously, or in parallel, with each other.
For the user to instinctively edit data, the GUI (graphical user interface) using a time line is adopted in such a video server. That is, using a control panel provided on the video server, the user effects necessary operations for data edition. The control panel has a display screen on which a variety of information required for data edition such as material data including video/audio data to be edited, is displayed, and the user edits the material data based on the GUI shown on the display screen.
The Applicant of the present invention applied the invention related to the edition-use GUI displayed on the video server on Nov. 10, 1998 (Japanese Patent Application No. 10-319634). Also, the Applicant of the present invention applied an invention related to the video server provided with a variety of control switches on Nov. 10, 1998 (Japanese Patent Application No. 10-319037).
It should be noted here that in the conventional so-called linear edition apparatus, edition point information such as time points indicating IN and OUT points of material data, and time points indicating IN and OUT points of data to be produced, is digitally represented, and that the user edits data for each cut based on a UI (user interface) on which the character information is displayed.
In the edition using the GUI in the above-mentioned video server, however, mainly a graphic is displayed on the display screen of the control panel and the random access to material data is used to graphically display the material data itself, so that using the material data itself displayed on the display screen, the user edits the data.
Thus, the edition by the GUI, as a help to the user""s instinctive data edition, is rather inconvenient to a user well familiar with the conventional linear edition apparatus because the edition cannot be done rapidly and the ordinary users cannot easily be familiar with the operation of the video server using the GUI.
Also, in case data is off-line edited using an inexpensive linear edition apparatus which can only output images of low resolution to produce a so-called EDL (edition decision list) and the data is on-line edited later using an expensive edition apparatus, the EDL thus produced is not positively used in the data edition.
Further, in the conventional video server, for example, in case an external device such as VTR is connected to the video server and video/audio data recorded in the external device is used as material data to be edited, a time is taken for acquisition of the material data. Also, for acquisition of material data from the external device into the conventional video server, a time is required for pre-roll and phase modification.
Therefore, for fine adjustment of the edition points such as IN and OUT points, for example, the data edition has to be done spending a long time. Data edition by the video server requiring the above-mentioned data edition is less efficient and convenient to the user.
The present invention has an object to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art by providing a data recording/playback apparatus and data editing apparatus, with which, making the most of the capability of non-linear edition of the conventional video server, the user can conveniently edit data with the similar operability to that of the conventional linear editing apparatus.
Also, the present invention has another object to provide a data recording/playback apparatus, data editing apparatus and a data recording method, which make more efficient the data edition with the conventional video server.
The above object can be attained by providing a data recording/playback apparatus including according to the present invention means for writing data including video data and/or audio data to a non-linearly accessible recording medium and reading data recorded in the recording medium, a plurality of input/output means for receiving data supplied from outside and accessing the data writing/reading means for an assigned time slot to output data to the data writing/reading means, and receiving read data supplied from the data writing/reading means for an assigned time slot and delivering the data to outside and a controlling means for producing, for a data edition by inserting source data into destination data, both included in the data recorded in the recording medium, page data having source data insertion start and end points and a start point of the data insertion into the destination data for each of edition units.
In the above data recording/playback apparatus according to the present invention, when data is edited by inserting the source data into the destination data, the page data having source data insertion start and end points and a start point of the data insertion into the destination data is produced for each of edition units and the data is edited based on the page data thus produced.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a data editing apparatus having means for reading data including video data and/or audio data recorded in a tape-like recording medium, and means for editing the data read by the reading means, the editing means including according to the present invention means for writing data including video data and/or audio data to a non-linearly accessible recording medium and reading data recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium, a plurality of input/output means for receiving read data supplied from the data writing/reading means and accessing the data writing/reading means for an assigned time slot to output data to the data writing/reading means, and receiving played-back data supplied from the data writing/reading means for an assigned time slot and delivering the data to outside and a controlling means for producing, for a data edition by inserting source data into destination data, both included in the data recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium, page data having start and end points of the source data insertion and a start point of the data insertion into the destination data for each of edition units.
In the above data editing apparatus according to the present invention, when data is edited by inserting the source data into the destination data, the editing means produces the page data having source data insertion start and end points and a start point of the data insertion into the destination data for each of edition units, and edits the data based on the page data thus produced.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a data recording/playback apparatus including according to the present invention means for writing data including video data and/or audio data to a non-linearly accessible recording medium and reading data recorded in the recording medium, a plurality of input/output means for receiving data supplied from outside and accessing the data writing/reading means for an assigned time slot to output data to the data writing/reading means, and receiving played-back data supplied from the data writing/reading means for an assigned time slot and delivering the data to outside and a controlling means for producing, for a data edition by inserting source data into destination data, both included in the data recorded in the recording medium, page data having start and end points of the source data insertion and a start point of the data insertion into the destination data for each of edition units, and assigning, when a plurality of page data is produced, page numbers to them in the order of source data output time points for discrimination from other page data and then writing the page numbers in the page data.
In the above data recording/playback apparatus according to the present invention, when data is edited by inserting the source data into the destination data, the page data having source data insertion start and end points and a start point of the data insertion into the destination data is produced for each of edition units and the data is edited based on the page data thus produced. If a plurality of page data is produced, page numbers are assigned to them in the order of source data output time points for discrimination from other page data and written into the page data.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a data editing apparatus having means for reading data including video data and/or audio data recorded in a tape-like recording medium, and means for editing the data read by the reading means, the editing means including according to the present invention means for writing data including video data and/or audio data to a non-linearly accessible recording medium and reading data recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium, a plurality of input/output means for receiving read data supplied from the data reading means and accessing the data writing/reading means for an assigned time slot to output data to the data writing/reading means, and receiving read data supplied from the data writing/reading means for an assigned time slot and delivering the data to outside and a controlling means for producing, for a data edition by inserting source data into destination data, both included in the data recorded in the recording medium, page data having start and end points of the source data insertion and a start point of the data insertion into the destination data for each of edition units and assigning, when a plurality of page data is produced, page numbers to them in the order of source data output time points for discrimination from other page data and then writing the page numbers in the page data.
In the above data editing apparatus according to the present invention, when data is edited by inserting source data into destination data, the editing means produces page data having start and end points of the source data insertion and a start point of the data insertion into the destination data for each of edition units. When a plurality of page data is produced, the editing means assigns page numbers to the plurality of page data in the order of source data output time points for discrimination from other page data, and then writes the page numbers in the page data.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a data recording/playback apparatus having a non-linearly accessible recording medium, and a plurality of input/output units for receiving and/or providing data from and/or to the recording medium, each of the input/output units processing input data and writing it to the recording medium and processing data read from the recording medium and delivering it to outside, both within a pre-assigned time slot, the apparatus further including according to the present invention an input controlling means for designating an edition point for material data recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium and/or material data recorded in a linear recording medium provided in an external device and means for controlling the non-linearly accessible recording medium and/or linear recording medium according to the edition point designation by the input controlling means, the controlling means writing, when the edition point is designated by the input controlling means, to the non-linearly accessible recording medium, data including edition units based on the edition point, recorded in the linear recording medium, and accessing, when access is made again to near the edition unit recorded in the linear recording medium, data including the edition unit recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium.
In the above data recording/playback apparatus according to the present invention, data including edition units based on the edition point, recorded in the linear recording medium, is written to the non-linearly accessible recording medium. When access is made again to near the edition unit recorded in the linear recording medium, access is made to data including the edition unit recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium without operation of the external device.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a data editing apparatus for editing and controlling material data for each of edition units, including according to the present invention, a non-linearly accessible recording medium, an input controlling means for designating an edition point for material data recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium and/or material data recorded in a linear recording medium provided in an external device; and means for controlling the non-linearly accessible recording medium and/or linear recording medium according to the edition point designation by the input controlling means, the controlling means writing, when the edition point is designated by the input controlling means, to the non-linearly accessible recording medium, data including edition units based on the edition point, recorded in the linear recording medium, and accessing, when access is made again to near the edition unit recorded in the linear recording medium, data including the edition unit recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium.
In the above data editing apparatus according to the present invention, data including edition units based on the edition point, recorded in the linear recording medium, is written to the non-linearly accessible recording medium. When access is made again to near the edition unit recorded in the linear recording medium, access is made to data including the edition unit recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium without operation of the external device.
Also the above object can be attained by providing a data recording method including, according to the present invention, steps of writing, when designating an edition point for material data recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium and/or material data recorded in a linear recording medium provided in an external device, to the non-linearly accessible recording medium data including edition units based on the edition point, recorded in the linear recording medium and accessing, when accessing again near the edition unit recorded in the linear recording medium, data including the edition unit recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium.
In the above data recording method according to the present invention, data including edition units based on the edition point, recorded in the linear recording medium, is written to the non-linearly accessible recording medium. When access is made again to near the edition unit recorded in the linear recording medium, access is made to data including the edition unit recorded in the non-linearly accessible recording medium without operation of the external device.